Life stories and legacies in Tomson Highway's Kiss of the Fur Queen and Deborah A. Miranda's Bad Indians : a tribal memoir

This article examines life stories and legacies of Indigenous peoples through the act of discovery, recovery, testimony, reclamation, and historical reconstruction that took place during the past century. The works of two distinct Indigenous writers will be at the centre of the present work, Tomson Highway, the well-known Cree writer, playwright, and musician; and Deborah A. Miranda, descended from the Esselen and Chumash peoples, native to the Santa Barbara / Santa Ynez / Monterey, California, area. Miranda, an established writer and poet, was professor of English at Washington and Lee University before she retired to focus on writing and creating community. The two novels to be discussed are Kiss of the Fur Queen, first published in 1998, and Bad Indians: A Tribal Memoir, published in 2013. Both novels draw heavily on the personal life experiences of their authors. The works share common themes: each offers an emotional account of life stories; each brings genocide to light and offers a unique exploration of the legacies of Indigenous genocide in northern Manitoba and California, respectively. Simultaneously, the act of discovery and historical reconstruction provides an insight into the continuous development and affirmation of the Indigenous peoples as this unfolded during the past hundred years and beyond.